It isn't an issue with the 4 x 4 size frame, but the number of stitches. She likes dense filled in designs. It appears that anything over 32,000 stitches will not stitch in the 4 x 4 frame even if it is a 4 x 4 design.

She wants to upgrade to a 5 X 7 machine PE770 or PE 780. Has anyone run into a stitch limit on these machines or can tell me the greatest number of stitches you have done so we can see if it will work for her.

For specific embroidery machine brands and model stitch count limits I like to suggest to contact the dealer or brand name company,or look through a manual,maybe it lists stitch count limits. Embroidery Library..................

All embroidery machines have limitations, and when you're shopping for designs, it's good to keep your machine's embroidery area and stitch count limit (if any) in mind. Here are notes that relate to the chart shown below:

Embroidery area: This is defined as the maximum size that your machine can stitch. If you order a design larger than what your machine can read, your machine will not display the design, or it may generate an error message.

Stitch count limitations: Some embroidery machines (especially Baby Lock and Janome) have a limit to the number of stitches that the machine can accept at one time.

There is most times a way around something like that, without having to buy a whole new machine. If there are just too many stitches in a design for a machine to stitch due to some limitation on that, and not on actual size of a design, you can just use some software to split the design into two separate designs, at a color change. So that way you have 2 embroidery files (with less stitches in each one) and not just one. And you would sew the first one centered in the hoop, and then afterwards you would sew the 2nd one centered in the hoop on top of the first one, with out even ever taking the hoop off of the machine.

Not sure which free software would let you do that, but old Buzz Tools did very easy, and probably some free and you pay for of them now ones do too. It might be a lot cheaper than getting a new machine, if you don't want or need a bigger hoop at all.

I think old Buzz Tools was replaced with newer Buzz Edit maybe. But you can download that as a free trial for 21 days it seems here, and see if that is still in there. To make that happen in the older version of Buzz Tools, all you really had to do was tick off a check box, that said split after so many color, and it would just happen. If you wanted to do that for her on those you could, or maybe she just would want to do it even. But check it out, as just checking is free.

Thank you for your responses. I don't think my neighbor would be computer literate enough to split files, nor with her eyesight, be able to line them up. She just wants something enjoyable to do without much fuss.

I did get a response from Brother. the 5 x 7 is limited to 50,000 stitches. I will see if this will be enough for her.

You know I haven't really been limited by stitch counts on my brother Pe 780 I have been able to sew out any design I have wanted so far. THe limitations for me come in the form of not being able to tell what design I have because the monochrome screen is so terrible. I also almost never have the exact thread the design asks for so I have to rely on my computer and embird to tell me that stuff. If that PE 780 had a bigger color screen I would be a happy girl, but a girl with less money, right??? bigger color screens are expensive.

My guess is that she is "addicted" to someone's photo stitch designs, sold over the internet someplace. Just because over 32,000 stitches jammed into a small 4 x 4 area or even 50,000 stitches jammed into a 5 X 7 area, is/would be really a whole lot of unusual small stitches, and all jammed up and layered over each other, most of the time, to sew out in a hoop all the time for any normal embroidery designs.

Unfortunate, Photostitch kind of embroidery, (or even cross stitch if it was whole scenes of stuff) particular if jammed up with lots of tiny stitches all layered on top of each other, in colors, probably even looks best, the way bigger your sew out area and the bigger your hoop even is. so the bigger hoops you want for something, just the more and more expensive everything gets even.

But if I was very much into only cross stitch embroidery or Photostitch embroidery and (for scenes of things and all area covered with embroidery I could get) and that was all I wanted to do, I would just want the very biggest square shaped hoop I could even find probably.

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